The school will allow for limited exceptions — a designated classroom "scribe" to take notes, specific tech-enabled activities such as an interactive in-class poll and any accommodations for disabilities — it announced Thursday.
In its policy writeup, the school said first-year students need to embrace "effortful struggle" to better facilitate learning, specifically in core classes such as civil procedure, constitutional law and statutory interpretation.
The policy, however, also emphasizes the use of AI during a student's law school education.
For example, the first-year legal research and writing curriculum will task students with writing without AI but allow its use for research, revision and oral argument preparation. Similarly, first-year elective courses taken in the spring will follow the default "no-device" policy, but instructors will be encouraged to experiment with potential AI involvement. The school already offers AI-focused electives, as well.
For second-year students, a required "substantial research paper" will involve an oral argument to side-step potential overreliance on AI for writing. The policy also noted the incorporation of AI into their various clinics, with instructors deciding the level of involvement needed.
Clinical professor Mark Templeton said in statements with the school's senior associate director of content on Thursday, "This is really about how we maintain and carry out our core values in a changing technological world. AI is part of our world whether we like it or not, and this new way forward honors all the best parts of a UChicago Law education: that includes rigorous intellectual inquiry, critical thinking, ethical reflection, effective communication, informed judgment, and empathy for the clients our students will serve in their future careers."
William Hubbard, professor of law and economics and chair of the law school's AI committee, said, "If you want to use AI as a study partner, if you want to use AI to ingest your notes from class and then create questions to quiz you on the material, that's great. That's not a shortcut. There are ways that using AI can strengthen the learning process and that's what we're trying to lean into."
The university joins other law schools in setting restrictions for AI use in the classroom.
In May, the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, adopted a sweeping new policy that prohibits the use of AI by students, saying the measure aims to ensure "our courses focus on requisite cognitive skills by default."
The school's statement regarding the purpose of the policy said that, while prospective lawyers may need to use AI in their future careers, "the current state of the technology requires that AI use be coupled with the cognitive skills necessary to strategically deploy the technology, to critically assess its work product, and to uphold ethical obligations to clients and to the legal system."
--Editing by Dave Trumbore.
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